Doctors on Call: Vaccines have eliminated diseases -- but our kids still need to be immunized

Gary Soud

Wednesday

Jul 31, 2013 at 7:52 AM

Vaccines are victims of their own success.

In the 1970s and 1980s, you could not walk into any children's hospital in this country without seeing several children with severe infections such as bacterial meningitis and sepsis (bacteria infecting the bloodstream). Many of those children died because of those infections, were left with severe brain damage, or survived with disabling complications.

Now, these infections have become uncommon.

Thanks to vaccines.

During the same period, as many as 10,000 children were paralyzed by polio; 20,000 newborns with mental retardation, birth defects or deafness; 4 million cases of measles with as many as 500 deaths every year, according to the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Diphtheria was the most common cause of death in children. A bacterium called Hemophilus influenzae Type B (Hib) would cause 15,000 cases of meningitis alone, and pertussis (whooping cough) would kill thousands of infants.

In the 21st century, two cases of diphtheria have been reported in the United States, the last 10 years ago. Hib as a source of meningitis cases has almost been eliminated. While pertussis is not uncommon, the number of cases and infant deaths have decreased dramatically.

Thanks to vaccines.

Globally, measles mortality was reduced by 74 percent - from 535,300 deaths in 2000 to 139,300 in 2010, according to a World Health Organization study.

Smallpox has been eliminated from the entire world and polio has been eliminated from North and South America.

Thanks to vaccines.

Immunization currently averts an estimated 2 million to 3 million deaths every year in all age groups from diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough) and measles, WHO reports.

It seems as if many major diseases have been eliminated. So, why do our children still need vaccines?

The answer lies in the development of the jet age. Children from many other countries with poor vaccination rates fly into this country every day. Some of these children who are in the incubation phase of infectious diseases spread them to unimmunized children anywhere they are encountered.

When these diseases were common, every parent knew someone who had an affected child. A polio epidemic occurred in Jacksonville in the 1950s. Every week, another child would be hospitalized with the disease. Some of them were paralyzed and some died. Parents no longer see children with these infections, so it is easy to conclude the risk now is low.

Polio vaccinations are still important; in fact, most schools require them, as well as other vaccinations against such diseases as diphtheria and measles.

Several years ago, concern of a relationship between the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism spectrum disorders caused a drop in the number of children vaccinated. There was a prompt resurgence in measles with a children's hospital in Ireland reporting 330 cases of measles with three deaths. Numerous scientific studies have shown no link between the MMR vaccine and autism.

In recent years, some people have decided to forgo immunizations for their children for various reasons. In many instances, the vaccine-preventable infections recurred, sometimes with long-term complications.

Despite occasional serious reactions from vaccines - which are tested by the Food and Drug Administration in the laboratory and in clinical trials - the benefit of immunity greatly outweighs the risks.

Parents should talk with their physicians about concerns that are raised about vaccines. Vaccines and vaccine schedules are carefully vetted by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and national associations of pediatricians, family practitioners and infectious disease specialists before being recommended for widespread use.

The U.S. vaccine supply is monitored through various steps of checks and balances to make sure any problems or contaminations are identified and addressed in a timely manner.

Since eight once-common childhood illnesses have been reduced since 1980 by more than 99 percent and the vaccines have been proved to be safe, it is not the time to become complacent.

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